Ruthless Control

by L. V. Lane

  What a fucking mess.

  Jordan was talking on his communicator, but he nodded at me over the top of Madelyn’s head, so I assumed it was something important. I sat on the couch, and she clung to me shaking, and offering up a rattling purr that damn near broke me.

  “The handover is confirmed,” Jordan said. “Beta by the name of Sanders is meeting a contact from Salvation. Dive bar called Reapers Revenge. The package is in a container. He will hand over the access tag to a Salvation contact. They extract the drugs and return the tag to him. You want me to notify Black?”

  I nodded. “I do.”

  Jordan pointed at his ear. I tapped my ear-communicator on.

  “We have a problem,” Rhett said.

  “I’ve just had a fucking problem,” I said, fighting to get my rage under control for the sake of the Omega in my arms. “What sort of problem.”

  “A Dino sort. His men have just arrived on the Southside precinct. You want me to send a team?”

  “No, I’ll deal with it,” I said. “You see what just happened?”

  “Yeah, I saw it. That was some fancy tech hiding a blade in his data tablet. That shits not Dino standard. That’s big-player tech.”

  “How big?” I asked.

  “Fuck knows,” Rhett replied. “Military maybe. I’m tempted to call out the Uncorrupted. They’re the masters of tech.”

  As if we didn’t have enough fucking problems.

  “I’ll deal with Dino,” I repeated, stroking my hand down Madelyn’s trembling back. “I need Jordan and Kade with Black. But Malaxos has made this personal now, so I’m going to make it personal too.”

  I had screwed up, not talking when I’d had the chance. I owed Malaxos nothing. My sister was here, and if I’d guessed she was here, so had Dino.

  The cell they had me in was empty, four bare walls and a hard floor, a single door, and not even a sliver of a window. If they wanted to fuck with my mind, this room ticked all the boxes. I was in a bad way, and I must have lost consciousness at some point, and they had removed my gag and left me food and water. They weren’t about to kill me—yet. Although that fucker talked about offing me like I wasn’t even here.

  I needed to get my story straight before they returned, or it was going to be the end of the game for me.

  The food had gone hours ago, but I was making the water last, and I popped the top and took another sip.

  My lips were so swollen, half of it dribbled down my chest. One of my teeth was loose, but that was a minor consideration when the rest of my face felt twice the normal size, and I had several cracked ribs. I rubbed my wrists where the magnetic cuffs still sat. At the touch of a button, they could have me helpless against the wall.

  How had I ended up in this hole?

  Yeah, that’s right, I’d fucked up my life.

  I wasn’t the only person in our family guilty of this. I’d told Mads to give herself up when she first revealed her dynamic. Begged her not to go to Malaxos. She was scared, I got that. But she fucked up.

  Then so had I, because I should have reported her instead of calling Malaxos.

  They had given Mads another dose of the virus when she turned eighteen. The government kept tabs on anyone who fit the Omega criteria but had yet to show. She could have been gifted, might have been a psychic, they didn’t even reveal until after eighteen, but the viral research program were greedy fucks, and they couldn’t wait to get their hands on Mads. A year later, she had gone into heat, and the shit had really hit the fan.

  Snapping the bottle lid closed, I tossed it to the floor in a fit of temper. The fucking Deltas had done a number on me over the last few days, and every inch of my body hurt. I’d been beaten before; I’d be beaten again before this life was through with me. It seemed like that was all I was good for being someone’s punching bag.

  Dad was convinced I would be an Alpha, and he’d infected me with that attitude. I was bigger than most of my friends growing up, but the time when an Alpha revealed came and went, and so did the Beta window, and eventually, I had to live with the fact that I wasn’t any kind of dynamic. Just another non-dynamic deadbeat.

  Only I didn’t fit in with other non-dynamics, I wasn’t stupid for a start. But I did have moments of weakness as I tried to find my way among a class of people I didn’t belong with, and that was when Malaxos picked me up. I’d struggled to hold a job down. Having someone tell me what to do had never sat well with me, especially when they were ordering me to do things a certain way, and I could see a better approach.

  No one took orders or suggestions from a non-dynamic, we were supposed to be sheep.

  Malaxos didn’t treat me like a sheep. Despite his thuggish facade, the Alpha wasn’t stupid. He kept a tight team, and he used his people’s skills to the fullest, no matter their caste.

  It was still a shitty life, but running drugs was better than taking them, and that was where I was at when I met him.

  Malaxos had been watching Mads from the day he gave her the suppressants. Felt like he owned her ass. And he did. Then the other Alpha started sniffing around, and that pissed Dino off. So he started a program to undercut Lucian Banner.

  Yeah, that worked out just fucking peachy.

  My knowledge of Banner was sketchy, but he was in a different league to Dino. “Light the fucker up,” he’d said. Then cold as fucking ice, he’d taken the last drag of a cigar while they burned Mikie alive. Not that I gave two fucks about Mikie, he was a bully, and he’d slapped me up the side of the head enough times that I was cheering the bastards on while they were beating on him. I didn’t cheer the burning part, that shit had made my stomach churn.

  I’d seen a lot of hard in my life, a lot of vicious and evil, but I knew what Dino had in store for Mads, and I needed to work out if Lucian was worse.

  The faint buzz was all the warning I got before my arms jerked back, and I was slammed against the wall. I sucked a sharp breath in and tried to remember what the fuck my story was supposed to be.

  Only it wasn’t the Deltas who entered; it was a tall, willowy Beta who could have been one of those fancy models. Huh?

  She didn’t say a word as she stalked toward me…and stabbed a needle into my arm.

  “What the fuck? Did you just inject me?”

  Perfect cherry lips smirked. “Dino sends his regards.”

  Fuck! My eyes shot to the camera, and she followed my line of sight.

  “Oh, no one is watching. I have a disabler that wipes my presence before it even records. We can’t have you talking, can we?”

  Who the fuck was this crazy bitch? And why the fuck would she be helping a low-life like Dino?

  My head suddenly became heavy, and my vision got a little blurred. “What the fuck have you given me?”

  Perfect white teeth flashed, and she pushed a wave of glossy blonde hair over her shoulder. “A new drug that turns non-dynamics into Omegas.”

  “Really? And you’re giving that to me?” I started laughing, it sounded hysterical even to my own ears.

  “A double dose,” she said smugly. “You’re going to die slowly and in horrific pain as your body tries to change.”

  “Yeah? I’m dead anyway, you dumb bitch.” I was at rock bottom, and I couldn’t see how this was any worse than Lucian ordering his muscle to burn me alive.

  She trailed a finger over my chest, and I tried to jerk away. “I’ve got a special treat for your sweet little baby sister,” she said, and her sickly smile turned sinister.

  No!

  My vision blurred, and my ears started ringing.

  “She’s going back to Dino, where she belongs. I thought you’d like to know that. Something for you to ponder while you die.”

  I jerked against the restraints. If I could have gotten loose, I’d have snapped her fucking neck. Her laughter followed her out, and as the door slammed shut, the restraints released. I crashed to my knees.

  Heaving, I brought up what little food lay in my stomach, and then I heaved some more. D
ots swam before my eyes, my body began to convulse, and I collapsed onto my side.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I’D SPENT THE night chasing leads on Malaxos without any luck. A couple of low-level pushers was all we had found, and they had squealed nothing useful. One pusher had smeared blood over my shirt and the front of my suit, which he clutched while begging for his life. I kicked the asshole off and put a bullet in his head.

  The bloody smear was still pissing me off.

  There was something off with all this, and I began to wonder if Dino ‘the dog’ was getting help, and I thought the scrawny non-dynamic kid might be able to give me some answers.

  There was a message from Rhett saying he needed to talk—urgently, in person—as we turned into the underground carpark. I entered the basement complex in a foul mood, just as Jordan and Kade arrived from their operation at the cargo docks. I had another office down here with a wide conference table and a wall full of monitors for the nightclub. Adjacent to this office was Rhett’s lair, where he managed my various business interests.

  One look at Jordan told me he was in a worse mood than me.

  “You need to calm down,” Kade, the younger of the duo, was saying as the door closed, giving us privacy. He lifted his shoulder in a helpless shrug as Jordan indulged in some pacing while cursing and muttering under his breath. “We got the batch,” Kade added as he placed a small silver case on the table. “We intercepted the handover in Reapers Revenge.”

  I sent another cursory glance at Jordan, whose eyes had taken on an unhealthy gleam.

  “What the fuck is his problem, then?”

  “I’m going to fucking kill you this time!” Jordan roared, thumping the adjoining door with the side of his fist. “Stop hiding behind a door, asshole!”

  I wasn’t expecting the door to open. It was fair to assume that none of us were. Rhett had a private elevator to his suite, and he rarely came into this office unless he had checked that I was alone.

  He was wearing a pair of dark pants, scuffed boots, and the orange tee with the lewd, tongue-waggling, one-fingered-saluting gecko.

  For several seconds no one moved or spoke, then with a low, violence-steeped growl, Jordan charged. Lucky for Rhett, Kade was alert to Jordan’s mood—and built like a tank—and he intercepted the other man—barely.

  “It wasn’t my fucking fault!” Rhett stalked toward the straining Jordan until I planted my palm in his chest and cut the idiot off. I put myself in front of him when he tried to get around. Now we had two angry dynamics snarling at one another, while myself and Kade fought to keep them apart.

  “Shut the fuck up, both of you,” I roared. “Or I’ll shoot you in the nearest non-vital body part until you do!”

  I had taken my gun out and had leveled it on the center of Rhett’s forehead.

  “My head? Really, you’re going to shoot me in the fucking head?” Rhett said. “Go ahead, that gecko sanctuary could do with some more cash!”

  “Gecko sanctuary? What the fuck? Is he crazy?” Jordan demanded, but a glance over my shoulder showed his rabid anger had eased a notch.

  “Yes,” I replied without thinking. I holstered the gun and rolled my eyes in wonder at how this evening could have gotten much worse. “Jordan, Kade, meet my brother, Rhett.”

  Stony silence followed this announcement. Jordan dragged out a chair and slumped into the seat. “We got our asses handed to us. If Black and Sherwin hadn’t been there, no way would we have gotten the shipment. This isn’t a fucking game, asshole. You’ve got some explaining to do.”

  “Someone has been tampering with our systems. I don’t know how or who. But someone got to the prisoner who was working for Malaxos,” Rhett said, wiping a hand down his face. “Drugged him. I thought he was only reacting to the beating at first. But I ran a check and realized a monitoring disabler had been used.”

  “Madelyn?”

  “She’s fine,” Rhett said. “I put a couple of Beta guards at the apartment entrance just in case.” He stabbed a finger at Jordan. “I don’t fuck with operations.” He began pacing. “But there is someone with a disabler inside this complex, and I needed to get backups into place.”

  “What happened to the kid?” I asked. Suddenly, I needed to hear what the scrawny punk had to say.

  “I asked the doctor to check on him. The one you have on retainer for Madelyn. Doctor said the kid had been dosed with the Omega drug. A massive dose. Asked if he could take him for observation. I said it was fine for now. They’ve got him hooked up to so much shit you can barely see him. But he said it would help with the research, so I figured you wouldn’t mind. If they unplug him, he’s going to die.”

  “No, he can continue,” I said. “I want to talk to the kid as soon as he comes around.”

  Kade pulled out a chair and sat beside Jordan; his face was sporting a few bruises, so I guessed the operation had gotten a little hectic. “Where did they get the drug from? We are supposed to hold all the supplies,” Kade asked.

  “I don’t know,” Rhett replied.

  I’d seen enough and heard enough. I ordered Jordan and Kade to take point on bringing additional security in since we could no longer trust monitoring, and ordered Rhett to find out where the fuck the drugs had come from.

  I left them to it, there was someone I needed to check on, and I wouldn’t be satisfied until I saw her with my own eyes.

  She was kneeling on the floor at the foot of the bed when I entered the room. Her head was lowered, and I thought she might have been asleep, but she jerked upright as she heard my approach.

  Shadows held the room, but in the moonlight I could see tracks of tears on her face. The white negligee she wore had a virginal feel to it—I wanted to rip that shit right down the front. I’d been hard on her, forcing an unnatural behavior on her in my quest to collar her.

  A normal person would feel bad about it—I didn’t.

  A normal person didn’t always get what they wanted—I did.

  It had been a challenging day and I took the time to compose myself before I spoke. Unknowns had been inside my complex, and I didn’t like that my Pet might not have been safe. I appreciated Rhett’s swift action in placing a couple of Betas on the door, but there was still a sensation of relief in seeing her. “What are you doing down there, Pet?”

  She needed comfort; whatever mental demons she had wrestled with in my absence had left an indelible mark. I would give her no comfort. The dark, endless abyss that consumed me at times was riding me hard. I needed all of her; I would have all of her.

  Her head lowered, and she played with something in her hand. “I was worried.”

  A collar? My heart rate surged as I held out my hand, and after the briefest hesitation, she placed it in my palm. The point that I had been craving, her complete capitulation to my will, had arrived. “Where did you get this?”

  “I found it last week.”

  An unhealthy cocktail of emotions assaulted me, my nostrils flared, and I fought to gain control of my overwhelming need to pounce. “Someone has been very naughty, love. Snooping where they shouldn’t.” I had no idea where she had found the collar. I had ordered the room stripped of all things pertaining to my former pets the moment she agreed to take the drug.

  Her lashes fluttered up, and her eyes met mine, wide and a little fearful. “I’m sorry. I should have told you…I thought you weren’t coming back. You’ve been gone a long time.”

  I was so close to losing my control. Earlier tonight, I had killed a man, his blood was still on me, and the urge to dominate the little Omega prey kneeling on the floor consumed all my mental bandwidth. I needed her to be mine, absolutely, unequivocally. I had reached an impasse, and the game I had played with her no longer satisfied me.

  Fresh tears dampened her cheek, and I offered her a soothing rumble. Her shoulders softened, but the tears continued.

  “Did you try it on?”

  She nodded, and my lips twisted in a smirk. “That was very naughty of you, Pet�
��Did you like feeling it against your throat?”

  At the swift shake of her head, my temper resurfaced. “It’s not real unless you do it. I want you to put it on.”

  The blood rushed through my veins so wildly, it was a wonder I remained still. The collar felt heavy in my hand. It was designed for a Beta and much too large for her slender neck. Pivoting, I turned and stalked away, tossing the offensive collar in the garbage, I went to the safe and extracted the one I’d had made for her.

  She was still on her knees beside the bed when I returned, but facing the door like she was eager for my return. I handed her the collar, and she stared from it to me in confusion. “It’s beautiful,” she said, a note of wonder in her voice. “I’ve never seen anything as sparkly as this.” It was studded with diamonds, I doubted she had ever seen a real diamond before. In fact, I had never seen her wear jewelry of any kind in all her visits.

  “Ask me to collar you, Pet.”

  She fidgeted with the collar in her hands. There were no more fresh tears on her cheeks, but I could feel the weight of her distress. I had been gone for hours, nearly a whole day. It was the longest I had left her alone since the day she was given the drug. She had imprinted on me, and she needed to have me near.

  When the doctor first told me she had imprinted, I had seen it as a burden. I wanted her in my collar, under me, and available to my whim. Bonding was inconvenient in my line of business. It wasn’t a light commitment for any Alpha.

  As I studied her bent head, there was no sense of burden.

  Her face lifted and she held out the collar. “Please collar me.”

  I took it from her without a word and fastened it around the delicate column of her throat. Although I had put it on her twice before, I made a show of checking it wasn’t too tight to give her time to take in what was happening. More tears trickled, and I rubbed them away with the pad of my thumb before tipping her chin so I could see her eyes. “It looks beautiful. Perfect.” Her body vibrated with joy, and she rubbed her cheek against my palm. “You are perfect, Pet.”